You fought for me? You manipulated me! Into where I am now – staring at the Brown & Williamson building, it’s all dark except for the tenth floor. That’s the legal department, that’s where they fuck with my life!
There are times when I wish I hadn’t done it. There are times when I feel com… compelled to do it. If you asked me, would I do it again, do I think it’s worth it? Yeah I think its worth it.
So, what you’re saying is it wasn’t enough to fire me for no good reason. Now you question my integrity? On top of the humiliation of being fired, you threaten me? You threaten my family? It never crossed my mind not to honor my agreement. And I will tell you, Mr. Sandefur… and Brown & Williamson too – fuck me? Well, fuck you!
I believe Mr. Sandefur perjured himself because I watched those testimonies very carefully.
Part of the reason I’m here is that I felt that their representations clearly misstated – at least within Brown and Williamson’s representation – clearly misstated what is common language within the company: “We are in the nicotine delivery business.”
The process is known as “impact boosting”. While not spiking nicotine, they clearly manipulate it. There was extensive use of this technology known as “ammonia chemistry”. It allows for the nicotine to be more rapidly absorbed in the lung and therefore affect the brain and central nervous system. The straw that broke the camel’s back for me, and really put me in trouble with Sandefur, was a compound called coumarin. When I came on board at B. and W., they had tried the transition from coumarin to a similar flavor that would give the same taste, and had been unsuccessful. I wanted out immediately. I was told that it could affect sales, so I should mind my own business. I constructed a memo to Mr. Sandefur indicating I could not in conscience continue with coumarin, a product we now know and we had documentation was similar to coumadin, a lung-specific carcinogen.
I sent the documents forward to Sandefur. I was told that we would continue to work on a substitute but we weren’t going to remove it as it would impact sales, and that was his decision.
You manipulated me into where I am now – staring at the Brown and Williamson Building. It’s all dark except the tenth floor. That’s the legal department, where they fuck with my life!
A can opener! A $39.95 can opener. I cancelled payment… it was junk. You ever bounce a check, Lowell? You ever look at another woman’s tits? You ever cheat a little on your taxes? Whose life, if you look at it under a microscope, doesn’t have any flaws…?
Maybe that’s what you’ve been telling yourself all these years to justify having a good job. Having status. Maybe for the audience, its just voyeurism, something to do on a Sunday night. And maybe it won’t change a fucking thing. And people like myself, and my family are left hung out to dry, used up, broke, alone.
I have to put my family’s welfare on the line here, my friend! And what are you puttin’ up? You’re puttin’ up words!
I find chemistry to be magical. I find it an adventure, an exploration into the physical building blocks of our universe.
Up to you, Jeffrey! That’s the power you have, Jeffrey! Vital inside information the American public need to know! Lowell Bergman, the hotshot who never met a source he couldn’t turn around!
